Just a short post to tie up my thoughts on the last chapter of Stanley Grenz’s book on postmodernism. The book was informative (for the most part) and with a few exceptions a good review of the characters and players in all this. But coming to the last chapter, I have to confess that my expectations were pretty low. I am so used to evangelical Christians giving away the store, that I was expecting Grenz to do just that.
But he didn’t. While he gave away a great deal of the stock, he did hide the cash register. In the last chapter, he affirmed clearly and unambiguously that Christians must reject the postmodern rejection of the metanarrative. He said further that Christ is the center, and that Christians cannot abandon the center.
But I am afraid that I remain critical of how he does this. After a book explaining all the postmodern reasons for doing what they are doing, and thinking what they are thinking, Grenz does not have us reject all this “for the following reasons.” In other words, he looks at what they are selling, and at the end of the day, he says, “Nah.” He does not take that critical step that would make him a full-fledged pomo. But we are left baffled as to the reasons why not. One of the things living in a postmodern era should do is make us sensitive to the trajectory of ideas. Ideas are always situated in history; they are therefore ideas in motion. The question, “Where is this car going? Where are the brakes?” is always a reasonable one. After all, the prefix post in postmodern is a profound and sweeping historical claim. I am grateful that Grenz clearly rejected the center and soul of all postmodern thought. But I am left wondering why he is so interested in the parts he doesn’t reject. It is like rejecting pantheism, but then trying to salvage bits and pieces of Stoicism. I don’t get it.